Easy New Year's Eve Edible Arrangement

You will need:
-A hat or similar decorative thing.  I found this hat at Meijer's in the seasonal decorations display
-Bamboo Skewers (I found these at Meijer in the kitchen gadgets section)
-White and Chocolate Candiquick or other dipping chocolate
-Glittery Sprinkles in as many colors as you like
-Florist foam (small block, you may have to cut it to fit in the hat, I wrapped mine in foil to keep the foam from going everywhere)
-Tape (to secure the hat to a tray)
-A tray
-Dippable yummies: I used marshmallows, coconut marshmallows, and Triple Double Stuffed Oreos.  You could use anything you can put on a stick.  If you use fruit, you will not want to do it the day before.  You will want to do it as close to the time you need it as possible (like just a few hours in advance to give the chocolate time to dry but not enough time for the fruit to get mushy)

You can also make things to use in the arrangement like cake pops or peanut butter balls or whatever truffle-like things you can think of.  The benefit to using marshmallows and oreos? SPEED.  Limited work and still delightfully tasty.

Let's face it.  With all the holiday baking that has gone on, a shortcut can really be welcomed.

Anyway, I started by cutting my florist foam block to fit in my hat, then wrapping it in aluminum foil.  I don't particularly like the green foam bits that go everywhere, so I tend to wrap mine.  It is not actually necessary, really it is just more of a thing that I am just very particular about.

I put the block in the bottom of the hat, and then sat the hat on a larger silver tray and taped the front and back down.  I really did not want it sliding around on my tray.

At some point, you will need to make some holes in the top of the hat, which I like to do after I have stuff dipped so that I can get an idea of spacing for the holes.  I used an Xacto knife and started with the center. Build out from this, making it as dense as you like.  You can change the heights of things by pushing ones toward the outer edges in further into the block, and by angling them in around the edges instead of pushing them straight down.

For the treats, melt your chocolate according to package directions.  I like to dip the FLAT end of the skewer into chocolate first.  Next, before it dries, I push that into the marshmallow and then dip the entire thing in chocolate. For oreos, I twist apart the cookie, dip the end of a skewer in chocolate, and set it on the cookie and then set the other side back on top of that.  You want a good amount of chocolate on the stick so that it holds when you go to dip it later.

I will be the first to say that the oreos are a lot more persnickety than the marshmallows but they are worth it because they are delicious.

As each thing was coming out of the chocolate, I let the excess drain off and gave it a few gentle shakes.  Then, I had poured out piles of glitter sugar  and I sprinkled sugar around the sides of the marshmallows.  Then, I tapped the top of the marshmallow into the sugar piles to coat and set it topside down on wax paper to dry.  For the oreos, I dipped them in chocolate and sat them on wax paper after letting the excess drain, and then I sprinkled the sugar glitter heavily on the top and less toward the bottom just because I liked how that looked.

Give them a bit to dry, and then pop them in the arrangement base.

This is a super simple way to have a fun dessert display without costing you hours of work.  I quite frankly think everything tastes better if it is on a stick.

Also, this is a cute way to display non-dipped food items if you are having fondue.

Happy crafting, and happy New Years!